Numbers 21:27

Summary

Numbers 21:27 introduces a saying attributed to "those who speak proverbs" concerning the city of Heshbon, calling for its rebuilding as the city of Sihon. The verse functions as an introduction to the poetic fragment that follows in verses 27-30.

Key words

• mo.she.Lim ("those who speak proverbs", H4911B) — qal participle, masculine plural, with definite article ha ("the"); denotes a class of people characterized by producing proverbial or figurative sayings, not a single speaker.
• tibbaneh ("let it be rebuilt", H1129) — niphal (passive) imperfect, third person feminine singular, agreeing with the feminine noun "city" understood; the passive form removes the agent — no builder is named.
• tikkonen ("it may be established", H3559I) — hithpael imperfect, feminine singular, joined to the previous verb by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002); the hithpael stem often carries a reflexive or resultative nuance, distinct from a simple passive.
• 'ir ("city of", H5892B) — feminine singular noun in construct state, meaning it must be followed by a noun that specifies whose city it is (here, Sichon).
• Bo'u ("come", H0935G) — qal imperative, masculine plural, addressed to an implied group of people invited to the city.

What the text says

The sentence opens with the causal phrase 'al ken ("therefore", H5921A + H3651C), linking this saying to what precedes it in the narrative. The subject of yo.me.Ru ("they say", H0559) is the participial group ha-moshelim ("the ones speaking proverbs"), introducing quoted speech. The quotation itself is compact: an imperative bo'u chesh.Bon ("come, Heshbon") followed by two verbs describing the city's fate — tibbaneh ("let it be rebuilt") in the niphal, and tikkonen ("let it be established") in the hithpael, joined by the conjunction ve. Both verbs are third-person feminine singular, matching the grammatical gender of "city" ('ir, H5892B), which appears only afterward in construct with Sichon ("Sihon", H5511), clarifying retroactively what the feminine subject of the two verbs refers to. The construct chain 'ir Sichon ("city of Sihon") identifies the city not by its own name (Heshbon) at this point in the clause, but by its association with the ruler Sihon.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ha-moshelim ("those who speak proverbs") as οἱ αἰνιγματισταί ("the riddle-speakers" or "those who speak in enigmas"), a term emphasizing obscure or riddling speech rather than proverbial sayings generally. The Vulgate uses the singular phrase in proverbio ("in a proverb"), collapsing the Hebrew's plural participle ha-moshelim into a single abstract expression rather than naming a group of speakers. The LXX also introduces ἵνα ("so that"), casting the second verb (κατασκευασθῇ, corresponding to tikkonen) as a purpose clause dependent on the first, a syntactic relationship not explicit in the Hebrew, which simply joins the two verbs with the conjunction ve.